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Giving his defence, Coun McEvoy said he was "upset" but denied he was "angry".

Asked if he believed he had made bullying or harassing comments, he denied both.

Then asked if he had brought the office of councillor into disrepute, Coun McEvoy responded: "I would say I enhanced my role as a councillor... I stood up for someone vulnerable".

He also denied he had showed a lack of respect towards an officer.

"They showed no respect or consideration towards my constituent. I think it's Cardiff council who brought this city into disrepute".

He said that after leaving court, the group were in a corridor together.

'I was trying to calm her'

Coun McEvoy was seen - and admitted - taking a picture of a nameplate on the door of the judge. Taking any picture or image in a court of law is a criminal offence.

Coun McEvoy also admitted saying the words in question, but said they were directed to his constituent, not the council officer.

He said she was upset and he believed she was likely to attack someone in the court. He said he wanted to get her from the building as soon as possible.

Gwydion Hughes, representing the ombudsman, said Coun McEvoy’s claim he was trying to calm his constituent down by discussing a “long term Plaid Cymru policy” was “absurd”.

Coun McEvoy went through his group's budget for the relevant year, which laid out a restructure which would cut council management.

But he told the panel Ms Carter's role was "too junior" to be affected by those plans.

It was put to him that he couldn't claim that she was both "too junior" but also that she was a council officer with 25 years experience so should be about to tolerate a certain amount of criticism.

The constituent he had been representing in the court case, Miss Amanda Williams, was called as a witness.

She said that she believed the comments were made towards her, and not the council staff.

She said she believed Coun McEvoy was "trying to help me".

"He's a decent bloke," she told the panel.

Ms Williams was evicted from her home as a result of the court case in the city's civil justice centre.

She had £3,700 of arrears, accumulated over a number of years.

'Quite angry'

Ms Carter had told the panel that she took Coun McEvoy's comment about the restructure as a threat.

She said: "His demeanour was quite angry at that point. He wasn't shouting but his voice was a little bit raised. They [the words] weren't said to be kind to me. I felt they were said in a kind of spiteful way.

"I didn't expect to be spoken to like that by my employer. I was doing my job and doing what the authority had asked me to do."

When asked what she thought the "impact" of the words was Ms Carter replied: "I did consider that to be a threat."

Her colleague, Dale Skinner, told the court Ms Carter was "shaken up". He added that he "took it as a threat towards Debbie's job".

The case was referred to the Adjudication Panel for Wales by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales after a complaint made by Labour Councillor Paul Mitchell.